Initiate Containment Protocol
by nanordm8
Summary: David and his wife are faced with yet another attack from the crazies. Continuing with their lives, David and Judy find that escape was not as easy as they thought. This is a different take on the film "The Crazies," in which the ending of the movie is continued and reshaped.


"The whole town of Ogden Marsh is destroyed and they're heading our way!"

"We have to pack up and get the hell out of here!"

Women in the sheriff's building start screaming and the men try to hide their fear. Chaos has sprung loose and the station loses all sense of organization and composure. The television flickers back to life, showing the face of a crazy who runs into the camera, killing the cameraman. The fallen camera shows a view of the ruined city, revealing a massive hoard of crazies running towards the town.

"This cannot be happening!" screams a man clutching a phone.

"I think I am going to get sick," a woman in the corner mumbles.

"Everyone calm down, we can figure this out. Obviously they are not going to get here right away. We have time to prepare, and stop them," says David.

"David we have no chance, you saw what happened to the last town."

"Yes we do, and we can figure this out."

The town of Cedar Rapids sends out a newscast telling the civilians that the town has been targeted by the crazies. An emergency announcement alerts the city to evacuate and get to safety. At the end of the announcement the people scream and run for the exits of the building trying to find an escape from the horrifying turn of events. In attempt to contact the rest of the city, David struggles to hold down the button of the intercom system with his shaking finger.

"This is an emergency broadcast to the town of Cedar Rapids: Please I want to live, I want everyone to live and in order to do this we must all stand together! Grab anything you can find as a weapon and line up along the wall along the outskirts of the city. I will try to find as many emergency weapons in the sheriff's building as I can, but bring anything you can find."

In the distance, a low cry swept through what was once Ogden Marsh. Word about the invasion spreading fast, the people of Cedar Rapids listened intently for any sign of approach. Whispers of the attack floated through the city, reaching every last person remaining. Within the hour everyone in the town of Cedar Rapids was standing along the town line facing the ruins where Ogden Marsh once stood.

Growing anxious and angry in the wait for battle, the crowd of people start yelling and turning away from the line when a cry rings out:

"They're here!"

Panicking, the army of civilians runs in all directions trying to find the source of the outcry. Shots start firing in the distance and one by one silhouettes fall to the earth. As the swarm of crazies rips its way through the uninfected crowd, screams pierce the cold air and more bodies drop to the ground. Blood coats every blade of grass and every inch of hard earth in the massacring of both human and crazy. Finally pushing back against the infected mass of crazies, the civilians begin to run out of ammo for their guns, and others had lost their weapons in the bodies of crazies. There was screaming and crying from the frenzied crowd as they struggled to fight against the ever-growing horde. Slashing their knives and firing their guns, the civilians brought down crazies in mass groups. Exhausting the rest of their power, the humans pushed to kill off the last crazies. On the brink of debilitating fatigue, the people cheered solemnly and slowly trickled back into the town borders, making their way back home to celebrate and forget the events of the day; though nobody would be forgetting anytime soon. Outside the city walls lay hundreds of bloody bodies, both human and crazy. Eventually returning home, David is greeted by an eager, warm embrace from his wife Judy who waits in the front yard with a distressed look on her delicate face.

"David! Are you alright? Oh David... you saved the whole town… you're a hero."

David smiled at his wife and the two head for the house sitting atop the lonely hill on the outskirts of town.

"Judy, would you get me a glass of water?" David says to his wife.

The wife fetches her husband a glass of water and returns with a worried look, making it obvious she knew something had happened to her battered husband.

"You look awful David. Why don't you get some rest and I'll take care of you."

"I think I want to take a shower first to get all of this blood off me...I don't even know how much of it is mine… at least we don't have to worry about any crazies hunting us down anymore."

After David returns from his shower, Judy approaches the bed with a warm wash cloth and another glass of water with a few pills to ebb the pain. Dabbing his many ragged wounds, Judy sighs in worry and looks into David's face.

"There are still some dishes to do. Holler if you need anything more."

Her face flushes as she turns away and begins to leave the room in efforts to hide her concern. Stopping just outside the door, Judy turns and searches David's eyes hoping to find comfort in them.

"David, I'm so glad that you're alive. I don't know what I would do without you… Get some rest, and I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight David, I love you," Judy whispers at the door.

David gets off the bed and walks over to kiss his wife, and slumps back down into the sheets.

Pouring herself a glass of water, Judy sits down and sighs heavily. She turns to look at the dishes left on the counter and heaves her body out of the rickety chair, walking to the sink. She loads the dishwasher with her back to the sliding glass door that leads to the spacious backyard trying to forget the way David's wounds looked. The door opens, but Judy does not hear it because of the water running in the sink. She watches the water rush down the drain, bringing bits of food with it. Behind her, a crazy walks in and takes a sip from the water that Judy had left out for herself. The wife turns around to see the crazy staring straight at her. She screams for David, and her husband sprints down the stairs in an exhausted daze. He sees the crazy and grabs a kitchen knife, lunging toward the figure, but the crazy knocks the knife out of his hand. The crazy throws David on the floor and starts to strangle him, scratching at his throat. David gasps for air, turning red from lack of oxygen and struggling to break free of the crazy's grip. In a moment of hesitation, the crazy's grip loosens and Judy stabs him with the knife that had been knocked from David's hand just a moment ago. Struggling to catch his breath, David hugs his wife fiercely. Judy rushes toward the glass of water that still sits on the countertop and hands it to David. He drinks it and turns to face the crazy that lays on the floor.

"He must have been a straggler, but that should be the last of them this time. Come on honey, let's clean up this mess and go to bed," David says, his voice full of strain and intensity.

Judy finishes the dishes, then goes to help David wipe up the floor. Once they finish, the two head upstairs. As David crawls into bed next to his wife, he does not quite feel right. He becomes cold and shaky even with the many layers that cover his wounded body. He gets up and goes to the bathroom to try to shake off the feeling of unease. He stares at his reflection in the small mirror seeing his pale and sweaty face. Staring...just staring at the face that looks back at him. Snapping out of the unusual daze, David heads back to bed.

The next morning he tells Judy that he has not been feeling well. She looks over at him, seeing his blank stare and the paleness of his body. She insists that he should go to the doctor, but he refuses and instead, goes to work. Arriving at his office, David eats breakfast with some coworkers.

"David you look awful!" one of his friends jokes.

"I'm fine Ken," snaps David.

Ken takes a piece of bacon that David had already bitten into, and eats it with an antagonizing expression that grows with every bite. As the day grows later, malicious thoughts come to David's mind while he packs up his things to go on a call for a burning house. Inspecting the fiery home, David could see all that was left in the wake of the crazy's swarm was the frame of the once beautiful house. He watched the people trapped in the house as they screamed and called for help. He had no sympathy for them. He wanted them to die. He wanted them to struggle in the flames that engulfed the entire residence. Distracted by their screams, David stares intently looking for any signs of agony from the dying family. His friend Chad speaks up telling David to snap out of it. Eventually coming back to reality, David sees firemen rushing toward the house with long hoses already gushing with water.

David watches the water shoot out of the spout, forming an arc in the darkening sky. As the streams of water fall toward the house, the water sizzles into nothing when it hits the blazing fire. Slowly, the firefighters managed to put out the fire while David and his team return to the station where he sees Ken. When David calls Ken over, he turns to him with the same blank stare that David had seen in his own eyes the night before. Triggered by his friend's call, Ken lunges toward David and attacks him in a vicious rage. Biting and swiping, the two men wrestle each other while their coworkers try to break up the fight. Eventually managing to break up the two enraged friends, a co-worker arranges a meeting to address the aggression that has plagued the office since the attack. After discussing all of the matters at hand, David is sent home for the day.

Making his way through the lonely town, David walks down the winding streets on the path to his isolated house. People watch his blank expression as he lugs his heavy limbs down the road. When he enters the kitchen, David sees that his wife is home on her lunch break munching on a sandwich that she likely made for herself just moments ago. The smell of tuna wafted through the kitchen; David had always hated tuna. Looking up from her lunch, Judy sees David's pale, disheveled figure revealing the wounds that had yet to heal. Cautiously getting up from her chair, she kisses him, and asks him why he is home so early. Without an answer, he stares at his wife refusing to break eye contact. Judy sighs and turns back to her lunch, but before she can bring the sandwich to her mouth, David jumps at her throat, tearing it open and exposing the many delicate arteries.

As Judy's face changes to a look of horror, she screams. Watching the blood gush from the ripped veins, David loses himself in a single thought: _kill_.


End file.
